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Good question. I haven't put a progress report up for a while as I only like to announce when the larger goals have been reached, but here is where we are currently.

I had written Kien's route first and it was okay - I wasn't 100% happy with it, but I couldn't put my finger on what I didn't like, and since I don't tend to like anything I do (which I'm told is pretty standard for anyone who writes, draws etc) I chalked it up to that. Then I started Suiza's route and I was having trouble - getting writer's block a lot and just generally not feeling it. Then something clicked and I realised what I'd been missing all along. So I finished Suiza's route and began Tai's, but Kien's route was still not what I wanted.

I looked it over again and realised what needed to change, so now I am now halfway through of doing a complete re-write of Kien's route.

The word count is currently 117,000. I hope to finish Kien's route in the coming week or so and then return to Tai's.

Also, I have commissioned the original artist to create sprites for the four NPCs that can be met in Suiza and Kien's routes (two Npc's in each). I was going to fill the roles with the 'extras' sprites I have commissioned but when their parts grew larger, I decided I would have them drawn as unique sprites. Once they are completed, I'll post them here for people to see.

So that is where we are! I know that it is taking much longer than I had anticipated or hoped and it is, in turn, delaying the other projects I am working on, which is frustrating (not to mention financially crippling >_<), but I want to produce a game I can stand behind and know it was the best I could make it with the resources I had at the time.

Once I have a solid idea of when the game will be finished, I'll put out a release date. Thanks for checking in! ^_^

My apologies, I was never able to upload the Mac and Linux versions of the game to Steam, so the key will only work if you require a Windows version on the game. It is certainly something I can try to look at again in future, but not something I have the options for currently.

Unfortunately, I cannot edit the text on the main page of the game to inform people of this - that text is added by itch - though I have clarified this in the game's description.

I'll be honest, I've never considered opening a patreon because all the games I've released so far are commercial (in that you have to pay to download them), so it did not seem fair asking to be sponsored, as well. I am more than happy if people just buy the games and enjoy them.

Though, that said, I do have a couple of games in the works that will likely be free, so I may open a patreon then for anyone who would like to support those titles and, potentially, more free games.

Sure, though, just to mention, you may not meet them all in the same route.

Duchess Matilde di Parisi: the MC and Frederique's mother. She is a large part of, and some might say the driving force behind, the action in the first game and she is just as determined to exert her influence here as well.

Cosima Venitti: Sofia's mother. She is thrilled her daughter is married, resolving their previous financial troubles, and is spending more and more time with her eldest daughter, Sofia, now her two younger children are away at boarding school.

Marc De Souza: Charlotte's younger brother. Now fourteen years old, Marc is lively, headstrong and obsessed with the coming war (a forgone conclusion in his mind) and the 'glory of battle' much to the displeasure of his parents.

King Auguste I of Segunda: the current ruler of Segunda. Guillaume's father, Leopold's nemesis and everyone else's headache. The king is extremely angry to be facing an uprising so late on in his rule, especially after the death of his friend and seneschal, Master Corin.

Vesela Brovik: Despite only being in her early twenties, she one of the higher-ranking members of the mediators' delegation sent from Alvardia. Clever and even-tempered in the face of provocation, she wants nothing more than for peace to continue in Segunda.

Count Pieto Triste: An older nobleman and head of House Triste, his lands comprise the city of Martz and were once a country in their own right, albeit a small one. Conquered over five hundred years prior by the neighbouring country of Albadriech and then given to Segunda as part of a peace settlement between the two powers, House Triste has been pressing for the country's independence ever since.

Sir Mathys Aurele: A young man and former knight to the noble House Cesair, he counts friends from both sides of the conflict and never seems short of coin or influence despite his current circumstances.

Okay, that would be all of them (unless I start writing and realise what I believed would be a much smaller role is suddenly getting a lot of screen time ^_^).

Ah, I thought I had updated that. Apologies, other games in development have been delayed and so this one has been pushed back. I will be working on it once more when Heaven's Grave has been released - which should be before the end of September - and I plan to add a lot more content as well, so we're looking at then end of the year.

Yes, we're very lucky to have Saleha on board and it's been great working with her. I've also commissioned the GUI artist, Laura Henderson, who worked on the GUI for Heaven's Grave to work on TTOW as well. I'll be putting up a proper update regarding that in the next week or so.

As for accessories, they are on the way - once I have an idea of which characters will have 'outdoors' scenes, I'll be commissioning some gloves, cloaks, hats etc.

No, there won't be more poses due to budget constraints. If it had just been the characters from 'Rose', I would have paid for extra poses, but there are more sprites to come - another 7 characters plus a few 'extras'.

Fun fact: the original, yellow dress's colour scheme was based on a old Halloween costume I once made. For the MC, I wanted something neutral that would look good in scenes with all the other characters and their many different outfit colours. You can see something much closer to the actual dress I made as Melody's Halloween costume in BFF. ^_^

I'm not really sure I see the hair and dress as not matching, but then I suppose if I did I would have designed it differently. I'm glad you like the rest of the ladies though.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to change everything about the characters given budget constraints and it seemed odd to me to change the MC's hairstyle while leaving the rest of them the same (that said, Guillaume's hair is slightly different as it did not suit his new outfit)

Hmm, not sure about the Guillaume or children thing yet - I'll have to see how things develop as I write each route. I don't want to promise things here that won't end up in the final game.

As for the traits, well, at the moment they are going to be a choice of another three personality traits (from a potential nine) to add on to your original three traits (which you will again pick at the start of the game with all the other information from 'Rose'), so you'll have six in total.

I don't have any examples as yet, I'll probably decide on them once I begin writing the routes - that way I hope the traits themselves will develop from the narrative rather than me picking them beforehand and trying to shoehorn them in later.

Hmm, at the moment (and this may change at a later point once I begin the writing proper) you have a menu to pick who you ended up with in the previous game, and then a following menu where you indicate who the King had picked to marry Guillaume: you or Francesca.

Also, there is an extra menu for players who pick Guillaume as their partner as, to get his ending, you could have romanced him , pretended to romance him because you want to be queen, or just been picked by the King.

All these decisions will then feed into the story routes which will be written as completely different paths. I'm not saying there won't be any overlap or similarities in how the general plot pans out, but it won't be like 'Rose' where the game ran along the same path for each route with different encounters.

So the playthrough where the King chose you to marry Guillaume but you ran off with Charlotte will have very different scenes and goals to the playthrough where you convinced Guillaume you were in love with him but secretly only wanted the crown.

To be honest, I think my word count estimate of 200,000 is on the low side, but I didn't want to promise more on the survey and then let people down.

I hope this answered your question - please, let me know if you want anything expanded on. It never occurs to be me that people would be interested in hearing about this sort of thing, but I certainly don't mind sharing - I hope it would get people excited for what is coming. ^_^

Ah, I'm glad you like the designs and I'm happy to hear the game is ticking so many boxes for you. ^_^

Even though I'm not supposed to be thinking about TTOW right now (I'm battling through my writer's block on HG), I keep coming up with little scenes/endings and thinking 'Oh, I've got to let that be an option - people will love it!'

Hello, littlegal100, and many thanks for your kind words. I've happy to hear you enjoyed the game and are looking forward to the sequel - fingers crossed I cam write something you will enjoy just as much the second time ^_^